GottaKnowWhen

The process for those of us continuing for another week was very smooth. We gathered in the lounge at 9:00am as the last of the other passengers were departing the ship. We then retrieved our passports, showed the passports to the CBP personnel, gave our passports back to the Pride purser staff, got a sticker added to our sea pass card showing that we had had the CBP check and we were cleared to continue. Done in 5-10 minutes. Stan

Yesterday we had a short day in Sint Maarten. A ship’s excursion, about 20 of us on a short bus ride to a local Skyview attraction. A quiet 30 minutes chair-lift to the top of the nearby ridge line. Some time there to take in the views, then some took a 45-second zip line to the bottom, others of us took the chair lift back down. Still working on processing photos from the last few days, here are a couple from yesterday. Speaking of “a couple”, one couple missed the 2:00pm departure. Because it was going to be a short trip back to San Juan, the Captain could wait for them. And wait. The crew was prowling the ship, looking for them or for anyone who might know where they were. Eventually a bit after 3:00pm their passports were sent ashore to the port agent and we left. Heard later that they were ok and planned to rejoin the ship here in San Juan today. Stan

I can only give partial answers and some guesses. We were on the Pride for one week around Iceland. From there to Boston we were on a Celebrity ship, late August. I don’t recall any rough seas etc, just some fog and misty rain. In Greenland, Quartatoq, we did a ship’s excursion to a lady’s home for tea/coffee and great discussion of local life. As far as temperatures, I plan to layer, I just cope with whatever the conditions are, and hardly pay attention or store any recollections. Probably 50s or maybe 60s Fahrenheit. Stan

Link…

See my ongoing discussion of all things Star Pride from San Juan. 186-188 pax this week, 244 next week including 50 continuing from this week.

Moored off Les Saintes, Guadeloupe today. Tendered in had a walk around. Most of the excursions today involved snorkeling etc, reports back were positive. No complaints about cold water etc. There seemed to be relatively calm waters, but the swim platform on the aft end was not deployed because of the swell. I have updated the gallery linked from my sig below (I have learned not to post too many photos here inline!) But here is my favorite from the day…

A favorite thing to complain about, or at least to comment on, is shipboard internet speed. Well, from my current experience, I would say that our internet speed is kinda slow. Reminds me of the times when my Commodore 64 computer was connected to the net via a 300 baud dial-up modem. Except sometimes it is good. The destinations guy, Gonzalo, makes a point of detailing the available free wifi spots for each port. This provides a possible backup for those that need faster service for work or school access. Stan

I think that was a good move on your part. Our first cruise on the Pride we were booked into a deck 4 cabin (same one we are in now, same one we had on our previous cruise in October.) our TA arranged a free upgrade to a deck 6 French Balcony, and that was definitely nice! The large window on the deck 4-5 cabins provide good views and plenty of light, but the small balcony will be nice to have.

On our brief swim/snorkel off the beach yesterday, neither of us noticed the water temperature! Mostly attending to rapidly sloping bottom, remembering how to swim… But I would say the water is fine! The platform on back was out yesterday, today not as it was beach bbq day, tomorrow we’ll check it out. Many have been off snorkeling etc and I have heard no complaints.

When I talk to friends who have little or no cruising experience, and when I make a comment like "this time we are on Windstar which has small ships..." they have no idea what I am talking about. Here is a large ship vs.small ship visual comparison, yesterday in Grenada. (The other ship is the AIDA Perla.)

Today I asked a different officer, I was told 188. Of the 188, 102 are passengers who have sailed Windstar at least once; one couple has 87 nights prior to this cruise. Next week, the Jan 14 sailing, they are expecting 244 total, 50 of whom will be continuing from this week.

En route to Grenada. Beautiful day, breezy, some nice rolling waves... A good day for bird watching!

Today is a sea day, the only full day at sea over the next two weeks. This morning we heard Gonzalo give brief descriptions of our port-of-call and excursion options. We then picked up our loaner snorkeling gear (ours to hold for the duration of our cruise). Found that there are 50 of us continuing for the back-to-back next week. And now the Bloody Mary bar…

It seems that many of those aboard are first-time on Windstar. As an old experienced Windstar cruiser on his 3rd cruise, the questions I most often hear from others has to do with eating/dining opportunities. My summary: Main dining room, Amphora, on Deck 3, aft. (Aft = rear. The fat end of the ship, not the pointy end.) Amphora is open only for dinner, usually 7:00-9:00pm. No reservations, no first/second seating, just go and enjoy. Breakfast and lunch buffets are in Veranda, Deck 7, aft. The Star grill on deck 8 mid-ship outside deck is also open for lunch and dinner, sometimes, depending on weather and other factors I haven’t figured out. In the evening, Veranda is transformed into Candles, a sit-down reservations only restaurant. Better food? Different menu anyway. No extra charge. Also in the evening, reservations-only Quadro44 has a tapas themed menu. And then we have the Yacht Club Cafe and Library on deck 8, aft. Open 6:00am 6:00pm with continental breakfast transitioning to sandwiches transitioning to cookies and sweets through the day. No matter when/where, the food is good. Stan

184 - I just asked for that!

We did another walk this morning around Old San Juan. The street in front our hotel, Fortaleza, is under repair and closed to traffic. We walked toward the cruise port, verified that the nearest point where we could get a cab was about halfway to the pier. Which confirmed our decision to just walk it later. We passed through the collection of arts/crafts vendors, followed the old city wall for a ways, back up into the city for a snack and drink at the El Convento Hotel restaurant, back to the hotel. We had a check-in time of 1:00pm. We got to the pier about 1:10pm. Oops! Big line up. Gonzalo explained that a surprise USPH inspection had put the embarkation behind schedule. We filled out the Health information forms, sat for awhile until our group was called, went through security, then onto the ship, up to the lounge on Deck 5, passport check (and surrender for the voyage), credit card run for the record, key cards issued, and off to our suite on deck 4, escorted by one of the stewards who showed us how to turn on lights, the tv, etc. We had lunch at the veranda cafe. And I stood in line for 10-15 minutes to make reservations for dinners at Candles and Quadro44, the zero-charge Speciality Restaurants onboard. Our luggage was delivered about the time we got back from our lunch. Unpacked, worked on photos. Up to Deck 7 for the muster drill, a stop by the Star Bar to get a to-go glass of wine, and back to the cabin to relax before the Officer Introduction party at 6:15pm. it is nice that many of the crew recognize us from our 7 days aboard in August and 8-9 days in October. Should I worry that the bar staff in particular are giving me the big smiles, fist bumps, welcome backs…? Stan

Arancini, part of our dinner at Cosa Nostra...

Our 2nd day in Old San Juan (this trip. Have been fortunate to visit several times before.) First, back story. We flew Wednesday from our local airport to DTW, then on to ATL, then to SJU. Actually, we didn't. In DTW, we were delayed 2 hours because the heavy snow in Minneapolis prevented the pilots getting to DTW for our flight. Once in ATL, we missed our midday flight to SJU. We could rebook on the evening flight leaving 6ish, or something else. The 6pm ATL-SJU was already overbooked, they put us on a flight to JFK, and onward to SJU. Eventually got to San Juan around midnight Wednesday. But, of course, without luggage. Thursday my bag was flown ATL-SJU on the early morning flight. It sat at the airport here from early afternoon until around 7:00pm, then was driven around the San Juan environs, and eventually back to the airport about midnight. [I know all of this through a combination of information from my Delta Find My Luggage app and my Apple air tags.] So today, Friday, Meg's bag was flown ATL-SJU, and both bags were delivered to our hotel a bit after noon. Moral(s) of the story: 1) do NOT fly into your embarkation point day-of. Or even the day before. Stuff happens. Allow extra days, go early, enjoy your embarkation port. 2) Put Apple air tags or similar in your luggage to help track what is going on. So, today in San Juan. NCL and Viking in port, and today is Three Kings Day so the start of a three-day weekend for much of Latin America. Busy city! We walked, watched the kite flyers on the National Park grounds outside the fort, had lunch, enjoyed the scene. A wonderful light dinner tonight at Cosa Nostra on Fortelleza, very near our Casa Blanca hotel. A good day. Tomorrow we board Str Pride around 1:00pm. Stan

I would have thought they would run into the “you must be logged in” warnings. I’ll try it, thanks for the suggestion! Stan

Thanks Bo. I have seen a few “live from” threads, they all have been quite different in tone, length, etc. and so I am not sure what exactly people expect from that designation. I used to blog on trips for friends via a standard blog site but that stopped primarily because my focus is more on photography than on hour-to-hour details, and the upload of photos to the blog site was way way too slow. Internet speeds have risen, uploads aren’t quite so painful, and so my intent was to revisit my blogging approach but using Cruise Critic as the host. Many of my friends are not cruisers and so will not see this site, but I’ll post some elsewhere as well. A long reply to a short question! But nothing else to do right now while waiting to see if/when our delayed luggage is reunited with us. Stan

We have a two-week cruise, Star Pride, starting this Saturday Jan 7. Arrived in San Juan late last night, today we spent a leisurely day wandering Old San Juan. A favorite location for us! Stan

I started to set up an extended trip: Seward Alaska to Vancouver to LA to Lauderdale. I was cautioned that it might not be permitted because of U.S. law that says that Foreign Flag carriers (like Celebrity) cannot carry passengers from one U.S. port to another. A round-trip, like from Seattle or from Lauderdale, is ok as long as there is one foreign port along the way. And a repositioning trip, like from LA to Lauderdale, is apparently ok. I was prepared to argue that my itinerary would meet the letter of the law, but if I lost the argument at the last minute, that would be a lot of plans to change and $$$$ to try and recover. In any case, Celebrity ship deployments and schedules changed, the question was moot, and I settled on a different way to overspend my budget. Your notion would probably require a layover of 3-4 months in Florida along the way as ships go South out of Seattle (or West across the Pacific) in the Fall, which is when any East Coast ships are also deploying South to Florida/Caribbean. Stan

Just off a cruise. I had an OBC issue, $$$ that showed in my Confirmations (not from TA) were not in my account onboard. Guest Services could do nothing. They contacted Miami. A day later, nothing. I emailed my TA. She is on safari in Rwanda. She replied within 2 hours, called Celebrity, about 4 hours later told me that my OBC was now there in my account. Not the first time I have had great support from her! I still do some bookings on my own, but a good TA can be VERY helpful. Stan

Jim, sorry we never linked up onboard. I wasn't able to access Cruise Critic even one time during the cruise and never saw any of your posts. I'll catch up when I get home tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have updated my Signature below with a link to a selection of my photos from the Dec 3 cruise as well as links to Iceland, Canada and Alaska trip from earlier this year. Stan

She is a nice person. But what is important is that her "nice person" persona is not just a mask designed for social media or whatever. We've sailed with her on two different ships, Summit and Eclipse or Equinox. The staff and crew respected her, enjoyed working for her, and did their best to emulate her "nice person" example. She runs a good ship! And oh by the way is fun and engaging and self effacing and, if some want to "certify" her as a Media Star, then I don't hold that against her. I think Corporate does well to put her out as an example of officers one might meet if they would only buy a Celebrity cruise. Good marketing ploy. Stan